In this soundtrack trope, melodramatic organ music (usually not a classical pipe organ but a tremolo-heavy Wurlitzer-type organ) is used to indicate a soap opera or soap-opera-type situation.
These days, this is almost always played as a parody, indicating Soap Within a Show-type situations. However, this type of music was indeed nearly universal in soap operas in the early decades of television and, earlier, on the radio.
While Wurlitzer and other organs had been a mainstay of the musical accompaniment of silent films, and were later used in other radio drama genres, their use in soap operas specifically originated in the radio drama The Guiding Light (ancestor of the TV series Guiding Light), where it was more thematic: the story focused on a pastor and his family.
Influenced by The Guiding Light, organ music soon became standard for soap operas as they moved to television. In the early days, these were not pre-recorded shows but live-broadcasted plays, and the organ provided a dramatic soundtrack that could be played live. An organist would play in the background throughout a scene to set the mood, then deliver a Sting to punctuate a dramatic climax.
As soap opera producers transitioned to colour TV in the 1960s, the accompanying change to pre-recorded shows with higher production values put an end to the traditional use of the organ; the last soap opera to use the organ traditionally ended in 1975. However, decades later, it remains in all its overly melodramatic and sentimental glory as a parodic signifier of the soap opera genre.
Not all soap opera parodies use organ music; some will use other Sentimental Music Cues such as Playing the Heart Strings and Lonely Piano Pieces, including Standard Snippets such as "Hearts and Flowers." While these convey the general idea of overwrought sentimentality, they don't specifically allude to soap operas, the genre itself, as organ music does.
Sister trope of Ominous Pipe Organ and Holy Pipe Organ, although these usually use the more sonorous classical organ instead of the Wurlitzer variety.
Played straight:
- The Edge of Night was the last soap opera to (earnestly) use live organ music in its soundtrack, finally dropping it in 1975.
- Guiding Light is the Trope Maker, or rather its original incarnation as a radio soap opera (The Guiding Light) was, in 1937. It was in fact originally diegetic music: Reverend Ruthledge's daughter Mary practising the church organ.
- The Long Runner Evangelical Christian Radio Drama Anthology series Unshackled!
debuted in 1950, and still uses this type of organ accompaniment today.
Parodies:
- Nickelodeon produced As Our School Bus Turns as an interstitial series parodying the soap opera As the World Turns. It featured dramatic organ music, particularly at the end of segments when the announcer would ask lingering questions about the story arcs.
- The Carol Burnett Show: The recurring sketch As the Stomach Turns parodied old soap operas and featured an organ soundtrack that would sometimes play so loudly it would drown out characters' dialogue.
- The Electric Company (1971) has a soap opera-like skit called "Love of Chair," about a morose fellow sitting in a chair, rarely doing much, while the unseen announcer tries to drum up drama. The organ accompaniment is heard during the intro, the outro, and when the announcer concludes by asking in every episode, "What about Naomi?"
- Ellen DeGeneres used the pipe organ in "As the Tide Turns," a soap opera spoof featured on her talk show Ellen.
- Mary Hartman, Mary Hartman: Although the show, a satirical soap opera itself, did not generally feature an organ score, other In-Universe soap operas that the title character would watch would feature an organ. This is especially noticeable in the first scene of the first episode.
- The Muppet Show: The "Veterinarians Hospital" sketches, which started out as a soap opera parody (specifically of General Hospital), always started and ended with organ music.
- In Taskmaster, used at the beginning and climax of Cul-de-Sac, Jess and Kerry's entry in the "most suspenseful soap opera cliffhanger" task in "A Coquettish Fascinator."
- That '70s Show: While unemployed, Red watches too many soap operas. This culminates in an Imagine Spot where he pictures his life as a soap opera, complete with an organ score after every sentence.
Radio
- When Al Lohman and Roger Barkley had a comedy radio series in the 1970s, one of their regular segments was a soap-opera spoof titled "Light Of My Life," with a comically maudlin organ score.
Recorded and Stand-Up Comedy
- Stan Freberg's soap opera spoof "John and Marsha" has the minimalistic dialogue accompanied throughout by a treacly score that combines Wurlitzer organ and Playing the Heart Strings.
Theatre
- In the original production of Pippin, Catherine's reminiscence of life with her late husband was backed by a soap opera-style electric organ arrangement of her entrance song. (Some revivals use different instrumentation for this cue.)
Video Games
- Five Nights at Freddy's: Sister Location: In between nights, the protagonist is shown watching a soap opera called The Immortal and the Restless (a parody of The Young and the Restless) about a vampire denying that the baby of his human girlfriend is his son. The show's only music is sad and slightly eerie organ music that is fitting not just because it's a soap opera, but also because of its vampire character. In the game's normal ending, this ends up Played for Drama: the organ music is reprised for ominous effect as the protagonist has his insides removed by the Scooper, allowing Ennard to crawl into and take control of his body.
- Classic Disney Shorts: In "Father's Day Off", Goofy stays at home and listens to a soap opera on the radio, which has an organ music score.
- Ralph Bakshi's 1967 short The Mini-Squirts is a soap-opera parody played out by little kids Playing House, complete with organ accompaniment.
- Spongebob Squarepants: During The Lost Mattress episode, Mr. Krabs is placed in a "Cash Coma" when his mattress (containing all his money) is thrown away. Several scenes of him in the hospital have this soundtrack, with the staff urgently whispering about buying candy from a vending machine as though it were open heart surgery.
